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For anyone who moved from tubes to solid state — a question

I'm the happy owner of a fairly new tube preamp and monoblock amps. I love it and have bought new tubes. To have another option for warmer weather or possibly a second listening room, I got a very good solid state integrated. I've run the tube preamp with the solid state amp and it sounds quite nice. I love all tubes, too.

But this question is for you. Please forget the convenience factor for a moment, including the issue of tube replacement etc. Also, forget about those cases where you bought new speakers and needed more power, etc.

Assuming you had quality tube gear with sufficient power — here's the question if you abandoned tubes for SONIC reasons:

What what is that tubes couldn't give you?
What did your solid state gear do for you which was so much better that you divorced to marry anew?

I'm curious about what people list as the positive sonic reasons they love solid state (including A, AB, D, etc.).

Thanks.
hilde45

Showing 2 responses by three_easy_payments

three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
In my experience it’s all about matching the amp and speakers. When I was running Spendor D7’s and moved from a Cary tube amp to a Pass XA30.8 SS amp (with actually less watts) I realized a substantially better bass foundation, articulation, and slam.

I later made a speaker change to Devore O/96’s which are exceptionally easily to drive. I acquired a Line Magnetic 805ia SET tube amp to try with the O/96’s and the sonic improvement was astounding compared to the Pass, including the bass, as well an overall rich sound with incredible detail and beautiful nuance.

So I don’t think bright lines can always be applied comparing SS to tube amps - it’s about component matching.
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
Myself I would likely only consider using a tube amp with very easy load speakers to drive and high efficiency is desirable as well to be able to achieve higher SPLs from fewer watts.

Yes, this is the way to do it. Now that I’m using a SET tube amp with 48 watts pure Class A (with 300B driver tubes) paired with 96dB 10 ohm speakers I can’t imagine wanting to listen to music in a different configuration. SET tubes with plenty of headroom and easy to drive speakers. I simply never have heard anything more beautiful in terms of topology pairing, at least for my musical priorities. I really don’t get the allure of matching high powered SS amps with low impedance speakers - it feels like swimming uphill to get a good sound - and at the end of the day a sound that doesn’t stir my soul.
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